Do you know the situation when you just can’t stop thinking about something that happened in the past week? Or when you are trying to concentrate but your mind wandered every few minutes? Or when you are trying to sleep but your head is so full of thoughts that it is difficult for you to calm down?
It’s time for a new endeavor: become the CEO of your mind.
Our minds are just amazing. They are able to process around 80,000 thoughts a day, move us through tasks such as driving a car on the autopilot, and constantly develop new ideas. It also helps us to be structured and organized and to remind us of important dates and birthdays.
Unfortunately, our thoughts often get a little out of control. Most of our daily thoughts are negative, or at least not constructive for the situation itself. Think about your last meeting – how many thoughts did you or the other person judge, how many were really helpful? In addition, it is often difficult for us to fall asleep at night because there is still this chatter inside, even though our bodies are actually tired. If you are interested in psychology, you may know that there are so many unconscious biases present in our minds that distort the way we perceive reality.
A little metaphor:
Imagine your mind is a horse and you sit on it as a rider. The “untrained state of our mind” is often as follows: The horse just runs where it wants to go, left, right, left, left, left, right, left, … and we sit on the horse, without control.
I especially notice that when I have a new idea. It all starts with that inner excitement and the intrinsic motivation to get to work right away. About 2 seconds later another voice comes in. I call it “the problem researcher”. He examines the idea from a very negative perspective and gives at least 100 reasons why it can never work. Another minute later, I decide not to start because I already feel like I have failed.
Back to the metaphor:
I just sit on the horse and let it carry me wherever it wants.
In this situation, what would I do as CEO of my mind? Observe and manage the processes in the mind!
I can have a new idea, consciously feel the excitement and also be aware that the “problem researcher” will follow immediately afterwards. From a created distance I can observe all thoughts that arise, carefully evaluate them and ask myself: “Is this really true?”, “How likely is it that this result will occur?”, “Where does this fear come from?”, “If it does occurs, what would be the consequences? ” and so forth. And then I make an informed decision about how to act or not to act.
One last time back to our metaphor:
That way, you’ll take the reins back in hand and steer your horse in the direction you want to go.
To be the CEO of the mind means listening to what is going on inside you, just as you do to your co-workers. Consciously absorbing all opinions, questioning them wisely and then actively deciding what to do and even to think. Since the German employer laws don’t really work here, you can even fire team members who no longer serve you, e.g. the “problem researcher” who prevents you from trying something new. 😉
